Spring-wheel.



SPRING WF APPLICATION HLiD mba H. E. NCCART.

Y SPRING WHEEL. APPUcATwoN mm MAY 23. 3917.

2 SHEETS-SUNK HENRY E. MCART, 0F DELH, LUISIANA.

SPRING-VHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jian.. 8, limiti.

. Application filed May 23, 1917. Serial No. 170,437.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY Evans MC- CART, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Delhi, in Richland parish and State ot Louisiana,have invented certain new and useful improvements in Spring- Wlieels;and l do hereby declare the iollowing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in .theartto which it Vappertains to make and use the same.

The inventionrelates to a spring wheel.

.lhe object of the present invention Vis to improve the .construction ofspring wheels and to provide a Simple, practical and eiii cient springwheel ot strong, durable and inexpensive construction designed for useon automobiles, trucks and various other motor vehicles and adapted toenable a solid rubber or other .tire to lbe employed and capable ofeliminating punctures and various other tire troubles and ofabsorbingand dissipating the strains and jars incident to the travelingof a vehicle over a rough road, whereby the body of the automobile orother vehicle is relieved of such strains and jars.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in theconstruction and novel combination o parts hereinafter fully described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claimshereto appended; it beingunderstood that various changes in the form,proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope ofthe claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of a spring wheel constructed in accordancewith this invention, the mnd guard being removed.

Fig. 2 is a transverse radial Sectional View of the wheel takensubstantially on the line 2--2 of Fig'. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinal sectional view cfa portion of the springwheel, illustratina the construction. of the resilient connectingmembers.

Fig. /L is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line 44 of Fig. J1, the

l resilient connecting' members `being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken longitudinally of the' wheel,illustrating the construction .0i .the ,.safety .automatic catch.

Fig. G .is detail view oi the dog,l of the automatic safety clutch.

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view, illustratingl ,the ratchet mechanismfor securing the springs oit the resilient connecting members in theiradjustment.

Lilie numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all thefigures oi' the drawings.

in the accompanying drawings, in which is illustrated the preferredembodiment of the invention, the spring` wheel comprises itsconstruction an inner ring or vmember l, .an `cute: rim 2 andonshioninasprings 3, the inner ringJ and the outer rim with theinterveningl cushionine springs 'forming an outer spring` structurewhich is adapted to be readily apililied to an ordinary wheel .i as asubstitute for a pneumatic tire, and the outer wheel structure may bereadily applied to any ordinary automobile wheel or wheel ot a similarconveyance. The outer rim 2 is provided at one side with an annulariiange 5 and it has a detachable retaining' ring` 6 at the oppositeside'secured in place by clip plates 7 and arranged in spaced relationwith the flange 5 to provide an annular channel for the reception of atire S of rubber or any other `suitable material. Any desiredconstruction of tire may of course be employed and may be readily placedon and removed from the outer rim.

The inner ring is provided at its inner periphery with an annular flange9 and it has a detachable retainingl ringl l0 at tbe opposit@ eidesecured in place by screws il or other suitable fastening means andforming` an inner groove or channel with the said annular flange toreceive the i'elly l2 of tne inner wheel. The detachable clip platesenabletlie spring` wheel structure to ybe readily mounted on and removedfrom an ordinary wheel. The springs 3 may be of any desired number andsize to suit the character of vehicle to which the springwheel is to beapplied and their terminals 13 may be secured to the rim and the innerring by any suitable means.

ln order to limit the relative rotary moveA ment ofthe inner ring andthe outer rim, the wheel is equipped with resilient connecting members14 preferably arranged vin .paii'sand located at opposite sides of thewheel, but any desired nur-aber of .auch resilient .con

necting members may of course be employee The members of each pair ofresilient connecting members are preferably reversed, as shown, and eachof the said resilient connecting members is constructed of steel orother resilient material and has one end 15 piercing the inner ring andsuitably secured to the same. The other end of the resilient connectingmember is coiled to form a spring 16 which has its free terminal 17connected with an adjusting device comprising a screw 18 carrying aratchet wheel 19 and having a threaded portion 2() piercing the rim 2and engaged by a nut 21 which locks the screw in its adjustment. Theratchet wheel is preferably formed integral with the screw, but it maybe rigidly connected therewith in any other manner, and it is arrangedat the inner face of the rim and is ei'igaged by a pawl or dog 22 whichis maintained in engagement with the ratchet wheel 19 by a spring 23.The outer end of the screw may be provided with a groove 24 to receivethe blade of a screw driver or other tool for rotating the screw toregulate the tension of the spring 1G which has its terminal 1.7 securedto the ratchet wheel 19. Various other locking means may ofcourse beemployed for securing the spring 16 at the desired tension and thespring 1G will resist longitudinal-movement of the connecting member.Any relative rotary movement of the inner ring and the outer ringincident to starting, stopping, backing or the like will be resisted bythe resilient connecting member, but in case of a sudden severe Vstrainfrom any cause the spring wheel may be locked to prevent excessiverelative rotary movement of the inner and outer portions, by means ot asafety clutch consisting of a pawl or dog 2G piroted at 27 in a recess28 in the rim and having a rounded end 29 fitting the 'all 30 of therecess to form a knuckle joint to relieve the pivot'27 of strain. Thepawl or dog is connected by a link l'with the inner ring and a relativerotary movement of the inner ring will pull upon the link 31 and swingthe pawl or dog inwardly into enga gement with one of a plurality ofratchet teeth 32 of the inner ring. lVhen the pawl or dog is engaged`with the ratchet teeth 32 the rotation of the inner portion of thewheel will be transmitted through the pawl or dog to the outer portionof-the wheel and further relative rotary movement of the inner ring willbe prevented and the springs 3 will thereby be relieved of torsional`strain incident to torque. The link 31 is preferably resilient and theclutches may be reversely arranged so as to operate in forward andbackward rotary movements of the wheel.

*The wheel is designedfor use on both the front axle and driving axle ofautomobiles, trucks and lmotor vehicles and it is equipped with innerand outer side plates or rings 33 and 341- secured to the inner ring andthe outer iiln and slidably fitting each other and adapted to preventaccess of mud to the space between the inner and outer members of thedevice.

l. nat is claimed is:

1. A spring wheel including inner and outer annular sections, cushioningsprings .interposed between the sections, a resilient connecting memberextending longitudinally of the saidmembers and connected with the sameand provided with aV terminal spring adapted to be placed under tensionby the relative circumferential movement of the said sections, andmanually adjustable means connected with the spring for varying thetension of the same. j

2. A spring wheel including inner and outer annular sections, cushioningsprings interposed between the sections, revers-ely arranged resilienteonnecting members each secured at one end to the inner section andprovided at the other end with a coiled spring, and an adjusting deviceconnecting the coiled spring with the outer section of the spring wheelfor controlling the tension of the spring of the connecting member.

3. A spring wheel including inner and outer annular sections, cushioningsprings interposed between the sections, and reversely arrangedconnectingV members extending longitudinally of the said lsections andlocated in the space between the same,

each member being secured at one end to one interposed betweenthesections, and connect# ing members extending longitudinally of the saidsections and each connected at one end with one of the sections andprovided at the other end with a coiled spring, and an adjusting devicefor each of the springs of the said members, said adjusting devicecomprising a stem on which the coiled spring is mounted, means carriedby the stem ,for connecting the same with the springs, and means forlocking the stem in its rotary adjust? ment. l

5. A spring wheel including spaced inner and outer sections,'cushioningsprings. andv an automatic clutch consisting of a pawl or dog mounted onone of the sections and connected with the other section and arranged tobe carried into engagement with the same by an excessive relative rotarymovement of the said sections.

614A spring wheel'including an nner'sec-` tion provided with a tube, anouter section der excessive relative movement of the said spaced fromthe inner section, twisting section. lo springs interposed between thesections, a In testimony whereof I aiix my signature pawl or dog pivotedto the outer section and in presence of two Witnesses.

5 arranged to swing inwardly into engage4 HENRY E. MCGRT.

ment with the said tube, and means for Conn Witnesses: necting the pawlor dog With the inner sec- R. E. VVALLANK, tion for operating the saidpawl or dog un- B. SKiDMoRE.

Copies of this patent: may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Entente, Washington, D. U.

